• Please see License for Copyright notice and Licensing information.
• [ Previous | Next ]

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread;

3 And gather thou all the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

4 And Moses did as the Lord commanded him; and the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

5 And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done.

6 And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.

7 And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith.

8 And he put the breastplate upon him: also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim.

9 And he put the mitre upon his head; also upon the mitre, even upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate, the holy crown; as the Lord commanded Moses.

10 And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them.

11 And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them.

12 And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.

13 And Moses brought Aaron's sons, and put coats upon them, and girded them with girdles, and put bonnets upon them; as the Lord commanded Moses.

14 And he brought the bullock for the sin offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering.

15 And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it.

16 And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar.

17 But the bullock, and his hide, his flesh, and his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp; as the Lord commanded Moses.

18 And he brought the ram for the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.

19 And he killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.

20 And he cut the ram into pieces; and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat.

21 And he washed the inwards and the legs in water; and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses.

22 And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.

23 And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.

24 And he brought Aaron's sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet: and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.

25 And he took the fat, and the rump, and all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the right shoulder:

26 And out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before the Lord, he took one unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and put them on the fat, and upon the right shoulder:

27 And he put all upon Aaron's hands, and upon his sons' hands, and waved them for a wave offering before the Lord.

28 And Moses took them from off their hands, and burnt them on the altar upon the burnt offering: they were consecrations for a sweet savour: it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

29 And Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering before the Lord: for of the ram of consecration it was Moses' part; as the Lord commanded Moses.

30 And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon his sons' garments with him; and sanctified Aaron, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.

31 And Moses said unto Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and there eat it with the bread that is in the basket of consecrations, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it.

32 And that which remaineth of the flesh and of the bread shall ye burn with fire.

33 And ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation in seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for seven days shall he consecrate you.

34 As he hath done this day, so the Lord hath commanded to do, to make an atonement for you.

35 Therefore shall ye abide at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation day and night seven days, and keep the charge of the Lord, that ye die not: for so I am commanded.

36 So Aaron and his sons did all things which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses.

h.קח את אהרן TAKE AARON — This section was spoken seven days before the final erection of the Tabernacle and so should have been placed before Exodus XL., but a transposition of this kind is quite customary in the Bible, because there is no “earlier” or “later” (no chronological order) in the Torah.

h.קח את אהרן means win him over with fine words and draw him on (cf. Rashi on Exodus 14:6) (Sifra, Tzav, Mechilta d'Miluim 1 2)).

h.ואת פר החטאת וגו'‏‎‎‎‎‎ AND THE BULLOCK FOR THE SIN OFFERING [AND THE TWO RAMS] etc. — These are the sacrifices mentioned in the section containing the command about the installation ceremony — in the Scriptural Reading beginning with the words, ואתה תצוה (see Exodus 29) and now, on the first day of the installation ceremony He again admonished him (Moses) regarding this when the time for performing the command arrived.

h.הקהל אל פתח אהל מועד AND ASSEMBLE THOU [THE WHOLE CONGREGATION), UNTO THE ENTRANCE OF THE TENT OF MEETING — This is one of the instances where the lesser comprised the greater (the small area accommodated the whole congregation) (Leviticus Rabbah 10 9).

h.זה הדבר THIS IS THE THING [WHICH THE LORD COMMANDED ME TO DO] — The things you will see me doing in your presence has the Holy One, blessed be He, bidden me do, and do not think I am doing them for my own glory and for my brother’s glory. — The whole of this matter treated in the present chapter I have already explained in the Scriptural Reading beginning with the words, ‎‏ ואתה תצוה ‏‎(Exodus ch. XXIX.).

h.את האורים THE URIM — an inscription bearing the Proper Name of the Lord (cf. Rashi on Exodus XXV 3:30).

h.וישם על המצנפת UPON THE MITRE … DID HE PUT [THE GOLDEN PLATE] — Threads of blue purple that were: fastened on the Plate he put over the mitre, consequently the Plate hung from the mitre mid would be “against his face” (upon his forehead) as stated here (cf. Rashi on Exodus 28:37).

h.ויז ממנו על המזבח AND HE SPRINKLED THEREOF UPON THE ALTAR — I do not know where he was given any command about these sprinklings (cf., however Nachmanides).

h.וימשח … ‎‏ ויצק‎ AND HE POURED [THE ANOINTING OIL UPON AARON'S HEAD] AND ANOINTED |HIM| — First he poured some oil upon his head and afterwards he put a drop between his eyebrows, and he drew the oil with his finger from this place to that (this drawing the oil from one place to the other was the anointing here spoken of) (Keritot 5b; Horayot 12a; cf. also Rashi on Exodus 29:7).

h.ויחבש — This is a term meaning binding.

h.ויחטא את המזבח AND HE PURIFIED THE ALTAR — He cleansed and purified it from anything “strange” (alien to the sacred purpose for which the altar was intended) that may have happened to it, so that it might enter into a state of holiness (cf. Rashi on Exodus 19:36).

h.ויקדשהו AND HE SANCTIFIED IT by this rite.

h.לכפר עליו THAT ONE MIGHT MAKE EXPIATION UPON IT from that time onward with all atonement sacrifices (i. e. that all atonement sacrifices might henceforth be offered upon it; the meaning is not that he sanctified it so that he might now offer an atonement offering for it or upon it).

h.הכבד [AND THE LOBE OF] THE LIVER — i. e. he took it (the lobe) besides some of the liver — it means that he took a little of the liver with it (the lobe).

h.איל המלאים — This means the same as איל השלמים, for the word מלואים is synonymous with the word שלמים; this term is used to describe the ram because by means of it they set the priest fully (ממלאין) and completely (משלימין) in their priestly office (cf. Sifra, Tzav, Mechilta d'Miluim 1 20).

h.וחלת לחם שמן AND A CAKE OF OILED BREAD — This was a scalded cake, and it is called “oiled bread” because he used a large quantity of oil for it, equal to that which he used for the cakes and wafers together. So is it explained in Treatise Menachot 78a (also Menachot 89a).

h.ויקטר המזבחה [AND MOSES TOOK THEM FROM OFF THEIR HANDS] AND CAUSED THEM TO ASCEND IN FUMES AT THE ALTAR — Moses (though a non-priest) was officiating during the seven days of installation [in a white garment] (Avodah Zarah 34a).

h.על העלה [AND MOSES … CAUSED THEM TO ASCEND IN FUMES] על העלה — after the burnt offering (על is taken in the sense of besides, in addition to the burnt offering. Hence he burnt it after the burnt offering). We do not find in any passage, that the shoulder of peace-offerings was burnt except in the case of this alone (cf. Rashi on Exodus 29:22).

h.צוה ה' לעשת [AS HE HATH DONE THIS DAY, SO] THE LORD HATH COMMANDED TO DO all the seven days). But our Rabbis explained as follows: לעשת, “so hath the Lord commanded to do” — this refers to the “Red Heifer” (Numbers ch. XIX.); and לכפר, “to perform a cleansing ceremony” — this refers to Yom-Kippur. And thus these words, they say, are intended to intimate that the High Priest requires separating from his family during seven days before Yom-Kippur, and similarly the priest who burns the Red Heifer (Sifra, Tzav, Mechilta d'Miluim 1 37; Yoma 2a; Yoma 3b).

h.ולא תמותו [THEREFORE SHALL YE ABIDE AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE APPOINTED TENT DAY AND NIGHT. SEVEN DAYS] … THAT YE DIE NOT — Consequently if you will not do thus, you become liable to the death penalty.

h.ויעש אהרן ובניו SO AARON AND HIS SONS DID [ALL THE THINGS] — This is stated to tell their praise — that they did not turn to the right nor to the left (cf. Sifra, Tzav, Mechilta d'Miluim 1 38).